Protective coverings have been devised in the past for electrical outlets either to the end of making the outlets weatherproof or of minimizing possible hazards to infants occasioned by inserting metal objects into the sockets when the prongs of an electrical plug are not in place. Typically, protective coverings which are presently available can be hinged to one side of an opening which surrounds the socket portion and spring-loaded into a closed position over the opening when the socket is not in use. For some reason, sockets are fascinating to many youngsters who will attempt to insert metal objects into the socket, such as, nails or coins and can result in serious electrical shock and injury to the child.
Even the use of spring-loaded closures does not serve as an effective deterent to many youngsters who are able to pry open the closure to expose the socket. In an effort to overcome this problem, releasable closures have been devised which will more positively lock in a closed position to minimize the possibility of a child prying the closure away from the closed position. For example, U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,198,373 to Ramsing employs a protective cover which has a snap-fit arrangement between the free end of the cover and a catch at the base of the cover to establish sealed engagement between the cover plate and outlet surface. U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,815 to Riches discloses a protective covering which is movable into snap-fit engagement with an upstanding rim around the socket portion and which requires a tool insertable into openings in the closure to effectively pry the closure away from the outlet. Again, Riches is designed with a special form of upstanding socket portion and in the closed position does not form any type of barrier or interruption between the tool-receiving openings in the cap and the socket portions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,101 to Davis an opening force must be applied to overcome the spring-loading of a protective cover in order to expose the socket. Other patents of interest in this field are those to Munoz, Kolster, Chrones, Sullo, Bennett,Chesnut, Schaefer, and Bowden.
It is a desirable feature and aim of the present invention to provide a protective covering conformable for use with various types of standard electrical outlets having flush mounted electrical sockets and which achieves positive snap-fitting engagement and requires a positive release action to disengage the cap and expose the outlet for use and in such a way as to effectively prevent opening by youngsters.